PHOENIX –

ANALISE ORTIZ/CRONKITE NEWS: Cronkite News reporter Mackenzie Scott is tracking how the rest of ASU is responding to a new presidential initiative to reduce campus sexual assault. Mackenzie?

MACKENZIE SCOTT/CRONKITE NEWS: Allegations of sexual assault have been an issue at ASU this year, but I spoke to campus leaders who plan to bring more awareness and change.

KAT HOFLAND/I ALWAYS GET CONSENT: I was sexually assaulted in high school, so when I came to college I knew that it was an important issue to me.

MACKENZIE SCOTT/CRONKITE NEWS: And it’s an important issue at the White House. President Barack Obama announced the “It’s On Us” campaign. It’s asking college students and their parents to talk about sex assaults and consensual sex.

Kat Hofland is a sophomore and president of I Always Get Consent, an ASU club that promotes awareness of assault. Hofland says that assaults on college campuses are common.

KAT HOFLAND/I ALWAYS GET CONSENT: One in five women are sexually assaulted in their time at college or university. So when I hear that people are being assaulted around an ASU campus it doesn’t surprise me.

MACKENZIE SCOTT/CRONKITE NEWS: But she and others on campus are part of organizations trying to raise awareness.

Earlier this year, ASU President Michael Crow initiated a task force on sexual violence. A member of the task force, Aaron Krasnow, says that they are going to be implementing a new required class this semester.

DR. AARON KRASNOW/ASU COUNSELING SERVICES: Every ASU student will be recieving additional training in consent and respect, which is an online module focusing on awareness, prevention and intervention with sexual violence.

MACKENZIE SCOTT/CRONKITE NEWS: He says that ASU and its students are bringing more awareness to the issue, and Hofland agrees.

KAT HOFLAND/I ALWAYS GET CONSENT: People are hearing our message. I think it’s still difficult for people to put together, but these little events, they always help. It always helps to reach out to people, and I think people are really beginning to understand what the issue is.

MACKENZIE SCOTT/CRONKITE NEWS: Tempe USG President Cassidy Possehl told me that one of the main issues on campus is lighting. She hopes to get better maintenance so students feel safer and sexual violence stops. Live in downtown Phoenix, Mackenzie Scott, Cronkite News.